The Nuisance of Frozen Pipes: Prevention and Thawing Techniques

Frozen pipes can be a real nuisance, especially during cold climates where water freezes and expands, potentially bursting pipes and causing significant damage. However, it's not just limited to areas with freezing temperatures; even in warmer regions, poorly insulated or incorrectly placed plumbing can lead to costly repairs.

When water freezes, it expands, which can cause pipes to burst. A small split like this could result in hundreds of gallons of water entering the house, leading to significant insurance claims. For example, according to insurance companies, a small split is good for about $9,000 in claims. Therefore, prevention and knowledge on how to thaw frozen pipes are essential.

Cold air makes the pipe freeze, but it's actually moving cold air that's the prime culprit. So, when looking at the building, you should ask yourself where the cold air can be coming from. The sill meets the foundation is a perfect place for this to happen, as well as outside garden faucets or areas where cable TV wires are installed by punching holes through walls. It's essential to seal these penetrations up with some sort of expanded foam or caulk to prevent cold air from entering and moving around.

Once you've sealed the gaps, you need to protect the pipes. Some people prefer to put electrical heat tape wrapped around the pipe that you plug in to keep it from freezing. However, this is not preferred by the author, who would much rather insulate the pipe properly. There are various types of insulation available on the market, including 1/2" and 3/4" pipes, with standard 3/8 sidewall but coming in different thicknesses. The foam rubber comes in two main forms: a split that you have to extend or a peel-and-stick installation that you put on the pipe and then seal it with tapes.

When putting insulation on a straight piece of pipe is not an issue, many people do this and bring the tape right up to the elbow where the pipe is most susceptible to freezing. To prevent leaving the weakest part exposed, the author prefers to insulate at corners instead. The perfect joint should have foam tape placed around it.

However, if you forget to insulate or procrastinate until morning when you need water, dealing with a frozen pipe can be frustrating. The first thing you do is leave that faucet open and let some room air in underneath the kitchen cabinet. If the pipe is exposed, you could use an electric space heater or try putting a little heat there with a blow dryer. The next step up from a blow dryer would be using a heat gun to carefully go along the pipe.

Never apply an open flame near the outside wall when thawing a frozen pipe, as this can cause more damage and potentially lead to a gas leak. Instead, follow these steps and you'll see the results and be able to thaw out the remaining ice with moving water that comes out of the faucet. However, if it's difficult to access the frozen pipe due to being between two floors in a stud wall, you might need professional assistance.

In such cases, a specialized tool like a pipe thawing machine can be used to clamp onto one side of the freeze and then when turned on, electricity is applied and melts any ice that's inside that pipe. This can save $9,000 or simply insulating the pipes properly in the first place would be the solution.

When considering prevention techniques, it's essential to remember that even areas without freezing temperatures can still experience costly repairs if their plumbing is not handled correctly. Therefore, knowledge of how to thaw frozen pipes and prevent them from happening is crucial for homeowners who want to avoid dealing with frustrating plumbing issues.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI mean it's a nuisance if you just don't have any water for a little while until the pipe thaws but remember when water freezes it expands and it can actually burst a pipe a small split like that could put hundreds and hundreds of gallons up into your house insurance companies will tell you that a split like that is good for about a $9,000 Insurance claim huh so something we want to pay attention to and especially for those of us who live up here in a cold climates you know what you'd think that but there's as many claims in the south where people run their Plumbing pipes in the outside wall or across an uninsulated attic thinking it never gets cold down here and when it does it's a mess a real problem so you've got some tips for us yeah today we're going to talk about how to thw a frozen pipe but as importantly we're going to talk about how to prevent it in the first place cold air makes the pipe freeze but it's actually moving cold air which is the prime culprit so you look at the building and say how could it be coming in where the sill meets the foundation is a perfect place how about where the outside garden faucet comes in from outside or how about where I punched a hole to bring a new cable TV wire in exactly go around the building and really look at where those penetrations are and seal them up with some sort of expanded foam or cocking and really really keep that cold air out stop it from moving right now once you got the shell tight we now want to protect the pipe now some people will put an electrical heat tape wrapped around the pipe that you plug in to keep the pipe from freezing I prefer to keep this as a last resort I'd much prefer to actually insulate the pipe properly okay now there's a bunch of insulation on the market here's there different sizes this is for 1/ in pipe and for 3/4 pipe and this is a standard 3/8 sidewall but it comes in all sorts of thicknesses and this is just foam rubber right now it comes in a couple of different ways one is a split that you have to extend but this is a peel and stick so you put this on the pipe pull these tapes and then it seals it nice and tight got now putting this installation on a straight piece of pipe is no story it's simple you put it on a lot of people do this and they bring it right to the Elbow well the elbow is a very popular place for a freeze so what i' prefer to do is to have people MIT oh the corners so that we're not leaving the most exposed uh the weakest part exposed that's right go like that and then you put the foam tape right around you got a perfect joint got it okay but let's just say I um forgot to insulate you procrastinated I did you wake up in the morning you reach for the kitchen faucet no water now I know I've got a frozen pipe what to do first thing you do is leave that faucet open and now we have to go to the place where we suspect the freeze has occurred and apply some temperature if it's underneath the kitchen cabinet open the kitchen cabinet doors and let some of the room air go sure if it's a pipe that's exposed we'd get a little electric space heater try to put a little heat there maybe a blow dryer The Next Step Up from a blow dryer is a heat gun and you would just carefully go along the pipe what you never want to do is to apply an open flame at a place near the outside wall okay so why do we leave that faucet open you said to do that right well if it's open as you start to th it you'll see your results and as water starts to move and come out of the faucet water moving by that free freeze will actually help to thaw the remaining ice okay now all this presumes is you know where that frozen pipe is and you can get access to it what if it's between the second and third floor in a stud bit you have te the wall you can't get in there and it's a long time waiting for this to to work I'm sure a professional plumber might bring in a tool like this this is a pipe thoring machine if this was the pipe that was inside the outside wall put a clamp onto one side of the freeze clamp on the other side and then when you turn this on electricity is applied and it melts any freeze that's inside that pip what a great way to save $9,000 or you could just insulate properlyI mean it's a nuisance if you just don't have any water for a little while until the pipe thaws but remember when water freezes it expands and it can actually burst a pipe a small split like that could put hundreds and hundreds of gallons up into your house insurance companies will tell you that a split like that is good for about a $9,000 Insurance claim huh so something we want to pay attention to and especially for those of us who live up here in a cold climates you know what you'd think that but there's as many claims in the south where people run their Plumbing pipes in the outside wall or across an uninsulated attic thinking it never gets cold down here and when it does it's a mess a real problem so you've got some tips for us yeah today we're going to talk about how to thw a frozen pipe but as importantly we're going to talk about how to prevent it in the first place cold air makes the pipe freeze but it's actually moving cold air which is the prime culprit so you look at the building and say how could it be coming in where the sill meets the foundation is a perfect place how about where the outside garden faucet comes in from outside or how about where I punched a hole to bring a new cable TV wire in exactly go around the building and really look at where those penetrations are and seal them up with some sort of expanded foam or cocking and really really keep that cold air out stop it from moving right now once you got the shell tight we now want to protect the pipe now some people will put an electrical heat tape wrapped around the pipe that you plug in to keep the pipe from freezing I prefer to keep this as a last resort I'd much prefer to actually insulate the pipe properly okay now there's a bunch of insulation on the market here's there different sizes this is for 1/ in pipe and for 3/4 pipe and this is a standard 3/8 sidewall but it comes in all sorts of thicknesses and this is just foam rubber right now it comes in a couple of different ways one is a split that you have to extend but this is a peel and stick so you put this on the pipe pull these tapes and then it seals it nice and tight got now putting this installation on a straight piece of pipe is no story it's simple you put it on a lot of people do this and they bring it right to the Elbow well the elbow is a very popular place for a freeze so what i' prefer to do is to have people MIT oh the corners so that we're not leaving the most exposed uh the weakest part exposed that's right go like that and then you put the foam tape right around you got a perfect joint got it okay but let's just say I um forgot to insulate you procrastinated I did you wake up in the morning you reach for the kitchen faucet no water now I know I've got a frozen pipe what to do first thing you do is leave that faucet open and now we have to go to the place where we suspect the freeze has occurred and apply some temperature if it's underneath the kitchen cabinet open the kitchen cabinet doors and let some of the room air go sure if it's a pipe that's exposed we'd get a little electric space heater try to put a little heat there maybe a blow dryer The Next Step Up from a blow dryer is a heat gun and you would just carefully go along the pipe what you never want to do is to apply an open flame at a place near the outside wall okay so why do we leave that faucet open you said to do that right well if it's open as you start to th it you'll see your results and as water starts to move and come out of the faucet water moving by that free freeze will actually help to thaw the remaining ice okay now all this presumes is you know where that frozen pipe is and you can get access to it what if it's between the second and third floor in a stud bit you have te the wall you can't get in there and it's a long time waiting for this to to work I'm sure a professional plumber might bring in a tool like this this is a pipe thoring machine if this was the pipe that was inside the outside wall put a clamp onto one side of the freeze clamp on the other side and then when you turn this on electricity is applied and it melts any freeze that's inside that pip what a great way to save $9,000 or you could just insulate properly\n"